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 * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
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package java.nio.file.attribute;

/**
 * Basic attributes associated with a file in a file system.
 *
 * <p> Basic file attributes are attributes that are common to many file systems
 * and consist of mandatory and optional file attributes as defined by this
 * interface.
 *
 * <p> <b>Usage Example:</b>
 * <pre>
 *    Path file = ...
 *    BasicFileAttributes attrs = Files.readAttributes(file, BasicFileAttributes.class);
 * </pre>
 *
 * @see BasicFileAttributeView
 * @since 1.7
 */

public interface BasicFileAttributes {

  /**
   * Returns the time of last modification.
   *
   * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
   * to indicate the time of last modification then this method returns an
   * implementation specific default value, typically a {@code FileTime}
   * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
   *
   * @return a {@code FileTime} representing the time the file was last modified
   */
  FileTime lastModifiedTime();

  /**
   * Returns the time of last access.
   *
   * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
   * to indicate the time of last access then this method returns
   * an implementation specific default value, typically the {@link
   * #lastModifiedTime() last-modified-time} or a {@code FileTime}
   * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
   *
   * @return a {@code FileTime} representing the time of last access
   */
  FileTime lastAccessTime();

  /**
   * Returns the creation time. The creation time is the time that the file
   * was created.
   *
   * <p> If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
   * to indicate the time when the file was created then this method returns
   * an implementation specific default value, typically the {@link
   * #lastModifiedTime() last-modified-time} or a {@code FileTime}
   * representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).
   *
   * @return a {@code FileTime} representing the time the file was created
   */
  FileTime creationTime();

  /**
   * Tells whether the file is a regular file with opaque content.
   *
   * @return {@code true} if the file is a regular file with opaque content
   */
  boolean isRegularFile();

  /**
   * Tells whether the file is a directory.
   *
   * @return {@code true} if the file is a directory
   */
  boolean isDirectory();

  /**
   * Tells whether the file is a symbolic link.
   *
   * @return {@code true} if the file is a symbolic link
   */
  boolean isSymbolicLink();

  /**
   * Tells whether the file is something other than a regular file, directory,
   * or symbolic link.
   *
   * @return {@code true} if the file something other than a regular file, directory or symbolic
   * link
   */
  boolean isOther();

  /**
   * Returns the size of the file (in bytes). The size may differ from the
   * actual size on the file system due to compression, support for sparse
   * files, or other reasons. The size of files that are not {@link
   * #isRegularFile regular} files is implementation specific and
   * therefore unspecified.
   *
   * @return the file size, in bytes
   */
  long size();

  /**
   * Returns an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or {@code
   * null} if a file key is not available. On some platforms or file systems
   * it is possible to use an identifier, or a combination of identifiers to
   * uniquely identify a file. Such identifiers are important for operations
   * such as file tree traversal in file systems that support <a
   * href="../package-summary.html#links">symbolic links</a> or file systems
   * that allow a file to be an entry in more than one directory. On UNIX file
   * systems, for example, the <em>device ID</em> and <em>inode</em> are
   * commonly used for such purposes.
   *
   * <p> The file key returned by this method can only be guaranteed to be
   * unique if the file system and files remain static. Whether a file system
   * re-uses identifiers after a file is deleted is implementation dependent and
   * therefore unspecified.
   *
   * <p> File keys returned by this method can be compared for equality and are
   * suitable for use in collections. If the file system and files remain static,
   * and two files are the {@link java.nio.file.Files#isSameFile same} with
   * non-{@code null} file keys, then their file keys are equal.
   *
   * @return an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or {@code null}
   * @see java.nio.file.Files#walkFileTree
   */
  Object fileKey();
}
